A Light Shining In The Darkness
by 50caliberchaos
Summary: The Great War ended more than seventy years ago, and already the world forgets the lessons it learned at the cost of countless lives. The rich have never been richer, the poor have never been poorer, and the desperate mob of Republic City flocks to those promising protection even as evil powers mass in the shadows. Only the Avatar and a bastard prince can hold back the darkness.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Greetings everyone and welcome to my newest distraction from being a productive member of society. I came late to the Avatar bandwagon but fell in love with the story, the characters, and the world. At any rate, this is a story idea I've been kicking around for a while and started well before I watched season two of Korra. As such it won't address anything from season two, but all of the lore presented in season two will be considered loosely true.

This will not be a frequently updated story. I've been getting progressively busier over the past year, but I'll devote what time I can to this and my other stories.

Enjoy!

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Chapter One: The Underbelly

Ears ringing, head thumping, the taste of hot blood in his mouth, the young firebender took a moment to realize that his limp body lay sprawled on the cold concrete. He drew a breath reflexively, every nerve in his body screaming in complaint. His nose filled with the smell of the pulverized brick dust hanging in the air and settling around him. Still buzzing from its hard run in with the brick wall, the firebender's head spun as he tried to push himself up to an elbow to better see his attacker. Focusing everywhere but where he wanted them to, the Triad thug's eyes flitted about the several wrecked storefront's along the narrow road where just seconds before he engaged his quarry.

Spinning low to the ground and striking up with an uppercut like a bolt of lightning, the waterbender sent the second of the three Triads reeling through the air and followed through with the motion to tear a chunk of concrete from the thin street and fling it through the air at her third attacker. As the massive slab of stone shot like a bullet from a sling and crashed into the third Triad's chest, knocking him to the ground and pinning him helplessly, the firebending thug's eyes widened and his jaw fell slack. "She earthbends too?" he muttered, no shortage of disbelief in his voice.

Spinning on her heel as the second Triad she'd dispatched crashed through a glass storefront with a terrified cry, the southern waterbender pushed her shoulders back and strode forward, stopping a pace or two in front of the downed firebender. She smirked and her almond eyes narrowed on him. "She does," the girl crooned. "She firebends, she earthbends, and she waterbends. Now why don't you tell me what that makes me?"

The firebending Triad swallowed hard, his gaze held by the girl's icy eyes. "You're," he gasped, his world beginning to go dark. "You're the Avatar?" he asked.

Tapping her chest with her thumb, the girl smirked wider. "The name's Korra. And yeah," she reached down, grabbed him by the collar of his previously immaculate jacket and lifted the thug off the ground. "I'm the Avatar." Flinging him back with a flick of her wrist, Korra threw the Triad back against the brick wall where his previous impact had already left a deep crater. She turned her back on him and looked skywards as the thug collapsed in a crumpled heap and no fewer than half a dozen spotlights trained on her from a zeppelin floating overhead.

Smiling, Korra raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sun as numerous figures in glinting metal armor leapt from the zeppelin. "Whoa," she breathed. "Cool, metalbenders." She put her fists on her hips and stuck her shoulders back as the metalbenders, gliding like spiders down their animated steel cables, surrounded her and spread out through the street. "No need to thank me gentlemen," crowed the young Avatar, rubbing her fingernails on her armband before giving them a cursory examination as the officers gathered up the three unconscious thugs. "Just doing my job, hey-" she yelped in surprise as one of the metalbenders grabbed her wrist and wrestled her arm behind her back.

The officer, a burly figure wearing a steel mask obscuring his face, reached for Korra's other hand. "You're under arrest. Submit and there won't be any trouble."

Muscles bulging as she swept her arm fiercely downwards, breaking the surprised officer's grip as she spun away from him, Korra put a few steps between herself and the metalbender. "Arrest?" she called. "What are you arresting me for?"

Spreading his feet and raising his hands at Korra, his wrist-mounted cables rising like vipers ready to strike, the metalbender glanced from side to side as two of his companions mirrored his stance. "How do aggravated assault with deadly bending, destruction of private and public property, and resisting arrest sound?" The bass words rang metallic as he spoke through the fanged steel mask obscuring his features. "On the ground! Now!"

Glancing about at the officers surrounding her, Korra quickly surveyed the scene, noting first the burning Satomobile turned on its side and crashed through a storefront, and thereafter the deep trench carved down the center of the road that had totaled the Satomobile and sent it spinning out of control. "I didn't assault anyone!" Korra shouted as the officers closed in. "Nobody got hurt!"

The lead metalbender, the eyeless voids of punctuating his mask focused completely on the young Avatar, took another step forward. "Those Triads need critical care. Now surrender and get on the ground!"

A bead of sweat forming on her brow, Korra slowly, as not to provoke the police, knelt down and put her hands behind her head, taking a deep breath as the three officers visibly relaxed only in the slightest. "Naga now!" Korra barked at the top of her lungs, exploding forward and past the officers as her polar bear dog materialized from the darkness of a nearby alley. As the officers recovered Korra grabbed Naga's collar and swung herself into the polar bear dog's saddle. Without missing a beat, Naga catapulted herself and Korra backwards down the alley. The young Avatar clapped her hands together and at the command the demolished street rushed forward like an avalanche to seal up the alley behind her.

As Naga sprinted down the narrow urban corridor, Korra looked back over her shoulder and smirked, though the expression withered and died as the titanic barricade of stone split open like cloth and two of the metalbenders charged through while the remaining four leapt to the rooftops overhead to give chase. "Oh right," Korra muttered as Naga turned a hard corner, "earthbenders."

Charging down alleys and ducking across side streets, the Avatar and the polar bear dog fled before the pursuing officers. More than once Korra tore open the side of a building, charged through the resulting gap while demolishing the furnishings in the room beyond, and burst from the opposite side of the residence or business. Every minute brought the officers closer to the fleeing Avatar and Korra's ears rang with the slapping and crashing of the metal whips as they grew nearer and nearer to snaring her.

Charging across a wide open trafficway and skidding to a halt on a bridge spanning a wide river, Korra and Naga froze as more than a dozen men in police uniforms cut them off from the far end of the bridge. Orders to freeze echoing in her ears, Korra spun around and spotted the six metalbenders cutting off her escape on the other side of the bridge as three police zeppelins floated into view overhead. The young Avatar's heart raced and she panted for breath as the metalbenders closed cautiously within striking distance and the officers on the other side of the bridge filed closer in ranks, ensuring she couldn't leap just one column to escape.

Reaching down and petting Naga's side, Korra took a deep breath. "Jump!" she shouted, spurring the polar bear dog. Naga's thick muscles heaved and she threw herself and the Avatar over the edge of the bridge as all of the officers charged forward to stop them. The pair crashed below the surface of the river, large air bubbles following them down around their faces as Korra turned in the saddle. While Naga swam forward hard Korra swept her arms through an intricate pattern and she stabbed her fingers upwards. Crystals exploded to life along the surface of the water, sending tendrils of ice spiderwebbing across and through the river for dozens of meters in every direction. Above the Avatar a humanoid shape slammed into the ice and lay there unmoving as Naga retreated beneath the ever thickening sheet of crystal overhead.

Gripping her mount's reins with a steely grasp, Korra held herself down against Naga's back as pillars of ice descended from the surface and connected with the ground, forming a forest and canopy of ice as far as the river stretched. Korra took the last breath of fresh air from her bubble before it popped and the frigid water slapped up against her face. Reaching tall drainage line beneath the surface of the river, Korra looked up to see dozens of shadows following above her. She patted Naga on the side and pointed down the drain when the polar bear dog looked around to her master. Her own bubble of air long since popped, Naga kicked through the water and down the massive drain.

Blackness engulfed the Avatar and the polar bear dog, an irresistible current sucking them downwards before spitting them out into a sprawling sewer. Both mount and rider heaved for air as they came crashing down in a rushing underground river, only barely illuminated by electric lights placed every few dozen feet. The polar bear dog pulled herself and the Avatar up to the dry walkway running along the edge of the drainage system as Korra looked from one direction to the other.

The young Avatar reached down and patted the polar bear dog on her flank. "Good girl, looks like we lost 'em," she said. "Now, how are we going to get out of here?" Korra looked down the tunnel, seeing nothing but a ladder and a manhole cover more than a hundred yards away, a passage far too small for Naga to utilize.

All but holding their breaths as they moved, Korra and Naga stole down the tunnel. The young Avatar lost count of the minutes and manholes they passed as the miles of underground sewer blurred together. Gradually the smell grew nearly unbearable before fading to the back of her mind as Korra acclimated to it. More than an hour later the mount and her rider spotted light at the end of the tunnel and, turning a corner, saw the sickly orange glow flooded in from an open culvert about five feet high and equally as wide. Korra dismounted and, motioning for Naga to wait, peered out the culvert and waited for her eyes to adjust.

Nose wrinkling as she squinted against both the sight and the smell, Korra looked forward. "Spirits," she muttered. "What a dump…" The young Avatar peered into the street beyond, unsure where the open gutter ended and the footpath begun. In many places it looked like the gutter ran right to the doors of the claustrophobically packed apartments and houses. People sat everywhere in the squalor and from every direction the Avatar heard the crying of infants, the coughing of the sick, and the shouting of arguments. She sat there a moment longer, surveying the street for any sign of the metalbending police officers, though when her stomach began growling so loudly Korra grew sure it would alert any pursuers, she ducked back into the sewer and grabbed Naga's bridle.

Giving the polar bear dog a token tug to get her moving, Korra and her companion walked cautiously into the narrow street. Stealth ruled out by Naga's sheer bulk, the pair simply kept their eyes trained ahead of them, ignoring the numerous uneasy glances they drew from the wretches squatting in the street and leaning out of windows of all heights to watch them pass. Attention drawn by the unmistakable aroma of duck roasting on a spit, Korra turned quickly down an even narrower side street, peering in open doors until she ran down the source of the smell.

Fitting with the rest of the slum, the barroom from which the smell originated looked to be well past the end of its better days. As Korra stood outside and peered in she counted no fewer than four tables missing enough legs to merit being propped up against walls or supported by makeshift combinations of scrap wood and wire. What tables could stand on their own sat occupied by figures hunched steeply over their mugs or glasses or plates, the dozen or so of which occupying the room looked up at the stranger in the door without speaking.

Ducking back around the corner, Korra pulled Naga's face close and whispered. "Wait out here for me and I'll get us something to eat," said the young Avatar, motioning towards the dark alley across the street. "If anything happens you just sit tight and hide. Got it?" She hugged the polar bear dog close before stepping away.

Naga whimpered quietly a second before turning and walking across the street. At the same time Korra took a step into the seedy restaurant, stopping halfway over the threshold as the floor creaked loudly and the already quiet room fell utterly silent, save the dull thumping of the ceiling fan chopping the air. The young Avatar crossed the dark room, passing under two light fixtures that flickered only occasionally, and sat on a stool at the bar some three sets down from the only other patron at the head of the restaurant. Through the kitchen door in the back of the room she spotted a slowly roasting duck turning over a fire, popping, sizzling and flooding the room with a smell so delicious it drowned out the stink of waste and refuse wafting in from the street.

Looking from side to side, Korra leaned over on the bar to get a better view into the kitchen. "Excuse me," she called out, spotting figure next to the roasting duck turning the spit. "How much for some of that bird?" asked the young Avatar. For a moment no answer came from the kitchen. "Hey!" Korra called a little louder. "I see you're back there!"

The figure sitting several seats down from the Avatar coughed and, leaning his weight on one elbow on the bar, turned towards her. "The owner's deaf," said the man on the stool, his words slurring together. "Give him a few minutes. He'll be out."

Korra turned to the drunk, noting with a casual glance the unkempt and oily mane of rusty brown hair falling in front of his face, the wrinkled beige vest and pants beneath his soiled green cloak, and his thick leather boots so caked with mud observers could only guess at the original color of the materiel. "How does he run the place deaf?" asked Korra.

Jabbing one finger at a placard mounted on the wall displaying drinks, meals, and prices, the drunk coughed again and reseated himself more comfortably on the stool. "He manages," he lazily replied.

Pausing another moment, Korra looked first into the kitchen and back at the drunk. "Aren't you overdressed for this part of town?" she asked.

The drunk raised his glass. "Dress for the job you want," he said. "I'm just killing time in here until my interview in the gutter later today."

Korra smirked. "No, seriously," she said. "I had no idea anyone in Republic City lived like this. Listening to everyone in the South Pole you'd think everyone here lived a life of luxury."

Tapping his knuckles on the bar, the drunk shrugged. "Some do, most don't," he said, scratching his thick and tangled beard. "Welcome to Republic City," he turned to the young Avatar and spread his arms wide as if in congratulations, "the finest and most respectable shit-pit of town you'll ever find."

A loud thud behind them drew both Korra's and the drunk's attention and they turned to see two tall men standing in the door to the bar. Both wore cloaks and heavy shirts of black, embroidered with red and gold beneath loose armor of studded leather dyed black. Their sharp eyes scanned the bar, quickly settling on the drunk at the bar next to the Avatar. The taller of the two men, a figure towering well over six and a half feet tall, flipped his cloak aside to brandish the Triple Threat Triad logo emblazoned on his shirt as he crossed the bar, the second triad waiting at the door.

The tall triad, his boots thudding across the floor, made his way to the bar and set himself between Korra and the drunk, facing the latter as the rest of the patrons stood from their tables and backed themselves up to the walls. "The boss isn't happy," the triad's voice rumbled, low in tone and volume as he stared down at the drunk. "The boss isn't happy at all. You left him high and dry. Yuans, Wildfire," said the triad, rubbing his fingers together in front of the drunk's face, flames slowly rising to life in his hand as he did. "You left the boss down half a million yuans."

_Wildfire,_ Korra silently mouthed the name to herself, imagining it had to be a codename or some kind of title.

Glancing between the triad before her and the one at the door, Korra took a deep but quiet breath as the drunk smiled and relaxed against the bar. "I never told Zolt I'd muscle for him," said the man in the dirty cloak.

Leaning down, the triad spoke through clenched teeth. "It doesn't matter what you told Zolt. Zolt told you to do something. You didn't do that something. So we have a problem."

The drunk cleared his throat, still wearing a wide grin and proffering his glass to the triad. "I've never had a problem so complex a little bourbon couldn't solve it. Sit," he motioned to the stool beside him. "Sit sit sit, all you want. It's on me."

Lashing forward the Triad put his hand on the back of the drunk's head and slammed the man's skull on the bar, catching the glass in the Wildfire's hand between his face and the counter and filling the room with a resounding crash. Leaping to her feet as the drunk's head rebounded back from the blow almost to its original position, Korra grabbed the triad by the back of his collar. Shouting as she heaved around, she flung the triad across the restaurant. Tables shattered beneath his weight as he smashed down and rolled across the floor to his partner at the door. The young Avatar barked an order for both triads to leave, opening her fists and summoning miniature suns of dancing fire to her palms.

Stalking to the side and placing herself between the triads and their quarry, Korra glared at the gang members. "Beat it!" she shouted. "This is your only chance."

Pushing himself to his feet, the muscled triad locked his attention on the girl opposite him as the bar's patrons retreated to the kitchen and out the back door. "That was a mistake," he growled as his leaner partner stepped up beside him. "Now you have a problem." Both triads held their hands to their sides as swirling vortexes of flame wound from their fingertips up to their elbows, leaving their clothes untouched by the fire.

Hands still wrapped in dancing fire, Korra cracked her knuckles. "I already took three triads off the street. Time-" she stopped as a hand lighted on her shoulder. Turning, the young Avatar met the gaze of the drunk sitting at the bar.

Blood streaked down his face from his slashed forehead, matting in his beard and dripping from his nose. He slowly shook his head, his silvery green eyes fixed on Korra's. "Don't fight them," he said, his words somber and his demeanor sober. "Not here. Not now."

Korra shook his hand from her shoulder and stepped forward. "No offense but," she spread her feet and raised one fist at the triads, "I'm the Avatar. This is what I'm here to do."

Catapulting herself forward with force so great she left crushed floorboards in her wake, Korra materialized seemingly from thin air between the two triads. Twirling like a dervish, the young Avatar swung her leg and planted her foot in the bigger triad's jaw with a burst of flame, sending him reeling backwards in shock while she threw her elbow at the leaner criminal's neck. The smaller triad however stepped backwards with speed that matched Korra's, dodging her elbow and retaliating by dropping low and leaping upwards, uppercutting her jaw and snapping the Avatar's head back with a loud pop.

Korra staggered back even as the larger triad collapsed to the ground and struggled to get back to his feet. Vision pulsing a moment, Korra jumped back into the fight, closing the distance with her remaining opponent in an instant and unleashing an infernal barrage of flaming attacks. Nimbly flitting from side to side however, never dodging by more than an inch at a time, the triad ducked and wove in and out of Korra's threat range, stepping away from every attack and continually letting the jets and arcs of flame pass harmlessly by.

Frustration evident in her increasingly aggressive and hectic attacks, Korra began putting more and more energy behind every motion. The flames she threw grew hotter and wider, smashing into the walls and furniture, tearing smoldering trenches into the drywall and smashing chairs and tables. Reaching out as the triad put yet more distance between them, Korra sucked the liquids from the numerous mugs and glasses on the tables and from the spilled puddles on the ground. The resulting mass of roiling liquid grew hot and bubbled as she flung the volleyball sized bullet of boiling water at the triad.

A jet of white flame erupting from his fingertips, the thug in black and gold threw out a wall of flame between himself and the boiling ball of water, deflecting it upwards where it smashed a sizzling hole through the roof of the room. Screams sounded from the next floor up as scalding water sprayed the apartment above, but deaf to them, Korra pressed her attack farther. Sweeping through one motion after another the young Avatar alternated between throwing daggers of flame and spears of ice pulled from puddles on the ground and frozen in mid-flight. Still the triad, smirking all the while stepped aside from every attack as Korra continued to demolish the barroom.

Breathing heavily, a thin layer of sweat shimmering on her dark skin, Korra spotted the pipe exposed in the ceiling by her earlier attack. "I've had it with you!" she screamed, reaching for the pipe and the water she felt gushing within it. The triad looked up with no small amount of surprise as the pipe over his head burst and geyser of frigid water crashed down on him. As he tried to leap away from the water the triad screamed in defiance as Korra slapped her hands together and snap-froze the water, sealing the thug in a crystal stalagmite the reached from the floor to the ceiling.

Stalking forward like an angry predator, Korra met the triad eye to eye, not bothering to look as his partner fled into the street. "Now who has the problem?" she growled, rearing back and slamming her fist forward on the column of ice. A bolt of fire as bright as lightning flew from her fist, pierced the frozen spire, and slammed into the triad with such power it blew him out the back of the stalagmite in a spray crushed ice. The thug lay motionless but groaning softly where he fell among splintered tables and chairs.

The drunk at the bar looked on, his face unreadable and his glass empty. "Well that was," he muttered, looking between his empty glass, Korra, and the thug lying on the ground, "quite a spectacle."

Korra threw her shoulders back and folded her arms in front of her chest. "You alright?" she asked, a wide grin spreading across her face. "That asshole roughed you up pretty good."

Reaching up and putting a hand on his forehead and drawing it away, still dripping red, the man at the bar shook his head. "I'd be better if you hadn't wrecked my favorite bar and pissed off the Triple Threat Triads."

Eyes twitching wider in surprise, Korra's face fell. "What?" she asked.

"Don't 'what' me," he answered, pushing himself to his feet, grabbing a rag from the counter and pressing it to the bleeding cuts across his face. "I told you not to fight them here, not to fight them now, but you had to go ahead and do it anyway."

"They were going to beat you up," Korra retaliated, "maybe even kill you! You should be thanking me. I saved you!" she stabbed one finger at him.

The drunk groaned and shook his head again. "No you didn't. They weren't going to kill me. This," he raised his arms and gestured to the destroyed barroom all around, "this tough, wow. You sure saved the shit out of this place. I doubt the triads could have done any better. Speaking of," he took a step forward, stopped to regain his balance, and continued, walking up to Korra and getting in her face. "What do you think the triads are going to do to Pau Gon now, huh? Two of their enforcers just got trashed in his bar by some chick defending one of his patrons. You think they're going to just let that slide? You just made sure this establishment will go under, its owner will be out on the street, and his two grandchildren will be hungry and begging within a week."

"I-" Korra stammered. "You can't, but I didn't-"

"You sure didn't," the drunk barked at her. "You didn't give it a second thought did you? You didn't even consider the kind of backdraft you'd be bringing down on everyone around you. Avatar or not, you're either brainless, completely careless, or both. You're what's wrong with the bending community. Why don't you turn around and piss off!"

"No!" Korra shouted back at him. "You piss off!"

"No!" the drunk retaliated. "I was here first and you wrecked the bar! You piss off!"

Korra fumed a moment, face turning gradually redder. "Fine!" she shouted, turning on her heel and storming out the door.

The young Avatar's boot slapped down in the muck of the gutter as she made for Naga's alley, the setting sun glinting off the white fur lining her waist. "Stupid worthless, ungrateful drunkard," she grumbled, closing in on the alley, surrounded only by the empty streets and the silence. "Who does he think he is? I saved his stinking life, sent the triads running home to their mamas, and he whines that there was a little collateral… collateral," Korra turned around and looked at the little bar tucked between two dilapidated houses in the claustrophobic street and stood there a moment. Even from the exterior the damage from her fight with the triads stood out. One wall sat bulging out. Bricks and charred drywall lay in the street around the doorframe.

Surveying the damage, Korra wondered how much it would cost to fix the structural damage and replace the furniture she destroyed. She also wondered about whoever lived above the bar and how they would cope with the hole so prominent in their living room. "It's all the triad's fault," she muttered, turning away again, her face growing hard. "If they hadn't challenged me none of this would have happened. It's their fault, not mine, not _mine_." She clenched her jaw and balled her hands into fists as she walked, thinking about her flight from the police and all of the damage she caused during that escape. "If the cops hadn't been chasing me," she growled, stopping before she reached Naga's alley, "if they'd just let me handle those triads and left me alone none of that would have happened either. That's their fault. It's not on me."

The young Avatar stepped into the alley where she'd left her polar bear dog. "Naga!" she called into the dark. "Naga!" she shouted louder, not seeing her mount anywhere. "Where did you-"

A deafening crack filled the air as dozens of grey whip snapped to life and shot from the alley towards Korra. She screamed in shock as human shapes clad from head to toe in steel armor leapt from the darkness, from behind dumpsters, down from the roofs. The ground behind her opened up like the jaw of a great animal and a more metalbenders appeared from below the very street to surround her. Before the Avatar could loose a second scream the metalbenders had descended on her and the steel whips had bound her from her ankles to her neck. As the final whip lashed up and snapped around her head, immobilizing her mouth and leaving only her nose and her eyes free, Korra saw Naga likewise bound by countless cables, caged farther back in the alley and muzzled as to not make a sound.

The young Avatar flopped to the ground, her head striking the concrete such that her world spun and her stomach twisted with sudden nausea in complaint. Her breaths came in ragged hisses, Korra struggled against the restraints, twisting and jerking so hard the cables cut bleeding wounds in her arms. As the Avatar's world began to pulse darker and darker, she twisted to her back and saw standing over her the metalbender with the steel mask obscuring his face. Black, eyeless voids and metal fangs stared down at her.

The lead metalbender's breath echoed off his mask as he knelt down beside her. "Some chase you lead us on," he said, barely above a whisper but loud enough for Korra to make out every word. "No one escapes me," he went on, "no one. Not the triads, not the Tongs, and especially not some stowaway bitch fresh off the boat from a backwater village." He stood up and turned to the other metalbending officers. "Get her to Bei Fong immediately. Let the chief fry her."


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Well I got some time to myself today and managed to hammer out more than I anticipated. At this rate maybe I'll actually finish something after all.

I hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter and here's to a happy second.

Peace!

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Chapter Two – The Rule of Law

After sitting alone with her hands fixed in shackles welded to the table, Korra felt the deafening silence of the solid steel cage pressing in on her from every angle. The single light overhead provided no noise whatsoever. Long after losing track of the minutes passing by in her silent prison Korra's ears had grown so tuned that the thumping of her heart echoing against the walls pounded in her head. She learned early not to scream or shout; any such noise reverberated back and screeched maddeningly in her ears. When what felt to be countless hours in the cell had passed, the steel door swung open with a rumble that to the trapped Avatar howled like a hurricane.

Turning to the door, Korra met the eye of the woman in steel armor stomping into the prison. Every clap of her metal boot rang in Korra's ears like thunder and the young Avatar clenched her jaw against the noise. The policewoman scraped a metal chair across the floor with no regard for the raking noise created, sat abruptly, and snapped her fingers. At her mental command the door slammed shut again and the woman tossed a manila envelope on the table, loosing a spray of papers across the steel slab before the Avatar. Korra instinctively leaned forward to look at the papers while the police woman waited silently.

An eyebrow rising up her forehead, the armored officer leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and cleared her throat. "My name is Lin Bei Fong, Chief of Police. You made quite an impression on your first day in my city, Avatar Korra," said the woman, her voice far younger and stronger than her weathered complexion and silver hair made her seem. "The estimates are still coming in, but between the Windfall Street, Pau Gon's restaurant, and everything in between your looking at damages in the hundreds of thousands of yuans. Congratulations; your vigilantism and evading arrest are the single most costly disaster in Republic City's history."

Staring down at the damage reports, her eyes scanning between highlighted lines here and there, the young Avatar felt her heart drop. Her thoughts raced. "There's got to be some mistake," she said, words flowing fast. "I couldn't have caused that much damage. The metalbenders were the ones chasing me and the triads started the fight! They're the ones to blame for the damage."

Silent for a moment, Bei Fong looked across the table at Korra, her expression some combination of vexed and incredulous. "You're really trying to blame any fraction of the damage you caused on the police?" she asked. "Is this a joke?"

Korra smiled uneasily. "Would it make things any better if it was?" she asked.

Lurching to her feet and stalking around the table, the Police Chief locked one hand on Korra's shoulder and slammed the other on the table in front of her. "Little Lady I don't think you appreciate the depth of the shit you're in. These are not minor charges Avatar Korra. Once we get the witnesses in front of an arbiter you're looking at spending the next decade of your life in a very unpleasant place. If you're very, very lucky the arbiter will sentence you to ten years in a Republic City Penitentiary and not twenty years on the Boiling Rock!"

Her stomach twisting beneath her ribs, Korra felt a cold sweat breaking out on her forehead and shoulders. "You can't do this to me," she retorted, almost stuttering. "I'm the Avatar. You can't put me in prison!"

Bei Fong tightened her grip on Korra's shoulder. "You attacked my city, assaulted my citizens, and aggressed my officers. Missy, Avatar or not," the chief met Korra's frightened gaze with an icy glare, "the only things standing between you and I are the laws you so blatantly disregarded. You'd best be overjoyed that the laws are impartial, because I'm not. Were it up to me, you'd be going to the Boiling Rock and you'd never come back. Now," she walked back around the table and sat as Korra's jaw went slack and her eyes widened in fear, "why don't we start at the beginning and you tell me why you're in Republic City in the first place. As I understand it you were supposed to be at the South Pole… How did you come to Republic City? Surely you didn't ride that beast of yours the whole way?"

Beginning to shake, Korra stammered a moment as the police chief waited calmly in her seat. "No ma'am," Korra responded at length, her voice uneasy. "I stowed away on a freighter called the Western Silk. I," she paused and stared at the table. "I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt."

"Well," Bei Fong shrugged, "people did. Two individuals were seriously injured when you ramped the triad's Satomobile into the storefront, the three triads themselves are in the hospital, no fewer than six people were injured during your escape attempt, one of my officers broke his arm and two ribs jumping onto the ice after you froze the river. Oh, and the triad you fought in Pau Gon's bar is in critical condition, the doctors doubt he'll walk again."

Korra withered in her chair. Her mouth opened and closed several times as her mind worked for something to say, but no words formed. After a moment she slumped forward, mouth open, eyes watering, and chest shaking. "I don't want to go to prison," she gasped, looking up at Bei Fong. "Please, I'm sorry. I'll do whatever it takes to make this right but I don't want to go to prison. Please!"

Standing, the armored woman looked down on the Avatar. "That's quite unfortunate," she said, her steely eyes locked on Korra. "You're set to appear before the arbiter after he gets done interviewing the witnesses and you'll be sentenced thereafter if found guilty of wrongdoing. I'm obligated by law to inform you that there will be a fine to pay for the damages and the court costs, as well as settlements with the citizens your rampage affected. If you can pay all of the charges then you'll be placed on probation and free to go. If you can't pay," she shrugged, "a kind arbiter would give you ten years in prison. A hard-ass will send you to the Boiling Rock for fifteen to twenty."

Her expression broke and Korra's face went soft with shock. "How much will the fines be?" she asked, voice quivering.

Bei Fong shrugged again. "The damages were in the hundreds of thousands of Yuans. The settlements with the injured parties are still being tallied and the court costs will likely run ten thousand or more. All in all I'd be shocked if you got away with less than a million yuan fine." The chief didn't so much as bat an eye as Korra broke against the table and began to cry. "Save your tears for the arbiter," she advised. "And get used to the idea of living in a very small, very dry cell." She turned and reached for the door.

"Wait!" Korra called after her. "Please. I'm the Avatar; can't you cut me a little slack?"

Bei Fong spun around and slapped both her hands on the table, voice rising almost to a shout. "Get it through that dense head of yours!" she barked. "I don't care that you're the Avatar and neither does the law! In our eyes you're nothing but another criminal, to be treated as all other criminals. Avatar or not, when you're in my city you will obey its laws or you will suffer the full reprisal. Are we clear Avatar Korra?"

Looking up, her cheeks stained with tears, Korra looked at the chief. "Yes ma'am," she choked. "I understand."

Bei Fong began to speak, but stopped short as the cell door opened and clanked against the opposing wall. Standing at the entrance, a tall man clad from head to toe in red and orange robes looked on. He pulled his amber hood away from his features, revealing the blue arrows tattooed across his bald head. The monk stepped into the cell, flanked by a metalbending officer and turned from Korra to the chief.

Korra's face brightened. "Tenzin," she gasped. "Spirits am I glad to see you."

Nodding to the Avatar and facing Bei Fong again, Tenzin smiled wide and bowed. "Lin," he said, "you're looking positively radiant to-"

"Cut the crap," Bei Fong raised a hand. "What do you want councilman?"

Stifled and taking a breath to regain himself, Tenzin put his hands behind his back. "Chief Bei Fong," he went on, "I would like to personally apologize for Avatar Korra's crimes and request on behalf of the Council that she be released into my custody that I might return her to the South Pole," he turned to Korra, "where she belongs."

Glancing apathetically between Korra and the monk in orange, Bei Fong folded her arms in front of her chest. "No," she said flatly.

Tenzin and Korra both gasped. "What?" they exclaimed in unison though it was Tenzin that spoke thereafter. "Lin you can't just hold her when a councilman requests you release her."

Leaning against the wall, Chief Bei Fong shook her head. "Actually I can," she answered. "At any senior police official's discretion, a suspect in a crime resulting in the injury of a police officer can be held without bail. If you don't like it you can file an appeal with the court which will take at least a week by which time she'll have been tried, sentenced, and put on a ship to the Boiling Rock and be, thusly, outside the jurisdiction within which your appeal would have any authority."

Standing dumbstruck a moment, Tenzin shook himself from his surprise. "Lin, please."

"Please what?" Bei Fong responded. "No one is above the law: not you, not me, and especially not the Avatar." She turned to Korra. "A figure as prominent as the Avatar, or a councilman," she glanced at Tenzin, "is to be held to the standard of the law every bit as strictly as anyone else."

Clearing his throat, Tenzin clasped his hands behind his back. "Lin, at least let Korra and I head to the court ourselves to make an appeal and speak with the arbiter, maybe appeal to the plaintiffs not to press charges. It will give her a chance to get up and stretch her legs and unwind a little. I realize these you're used to fighting triads and tongs, but Korra isn't accustomed to this kind of treatment."

Lin sighed and shrugged as the restraints around Korra's wrists snapped open. "Fine," she said. "If she runs, it's on your head Tenzin." The police chief made for the door, stopping only enough to look back at the monk. "I'll bury you so deep in litigation you'll never see the sun."

The monk and the Avatar paused as Bei Fong disappeared around the corner. Reaching down and putting a hand under Korra's arm, Tenzin helped her to her feet. "Come on," he said sternly but not unkindly. "Let's get you out of here."

Her breath catching, Korra looked at the monk. "Tenzin," she bordered on sobbing, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I was just trying to, to," she stopped and bit her lip. "What am I going to do?"

Taking a long and deep breath, the monk moved his hand to Korra's back. "We'll see what we can do to get this quieted down," he said. "Let's go to the court and ask the charges be reduced or dropped and we can go from there."

"Will they do that?" asked the Avatar.

Tenzin paused a moment before continuing with a subdued smile. "We won't know if we don't ask," he answered.

SC

Staggering out of the marble building, features frozen in shock, Korra stumbled and dropped to the ground on her hands and knees. As the sun slowly dipped below the western horizon, the young Avatar shook her head and stared straight down past the ground. "I can't do this," she whispered as Tenzin walked up beside her. She looked up at him, stark terror plain on her face. "Tenzin," she said, "I can't go to prison. I can't. And the arbiter said the only facility secure enough for me was the Boiling Rock…"

Kneeling down by her, the monk put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll figure something out," he looked back at the courthouse. "It might take some time but we'll figure it out."

Korra jumped to her feet and whirled on him. "We don't have time, Tenzin!" she shouted. "My hearing's tomorrow and no one will help us! We talked to the arbiter and he won't drop the charges. None of the plaintiff's would even speak to me, and I can't come up with a million yuans in twenty-four hours. I have no money, Tenzin! None! What am I supposed to do?"

The monk stood at the top of the stairs leading down from the elevated courthouse to the rest of Republic City, looking west towards the sunset. "Were I in your position," he said slowly, "I would prepare yourself for the worst-case scenario." The monk paused as yet more fear spread across Korra's face. "This trial will likely result in some time in prison, but don't worry too much. I think I can get the city council behind me and together we might be able to get the charges overturned. In the meantime however, you should be prepared to spend a few days to a few weeks…" he trailed off. "We'll get this fixed, Korra. I'll call every favor I can."

Standing up and staring out at the sprawling city, the young Avatar remained silent for several minutes. "I'm so sorry Tenzin," she said. "I've pretty much disgraced being the Avatar, haven't I?"

The monk sighed and shook his head. "No one is perfect," he answered. "I recall a few stories my father told me about times he made mistakes that resulted in a lot of damage. Come on, we should get to Air Temple Island. We'll rest up, come back tomorrow and see what fate has in store for us."

A hollow laugh escaping her chest, Korra remained rooted where she stood. "I don't suppose I could just run away?" she asked.

"You could," Tenzin said quietly. "Although I couldn't recommend it." They both remained silent another minute before Tenzin spoke again. "If you fled Republic City you would have no choice but to return to the South Pole where the police possess no authority. It would create a great deal of headache for me, but I'm a councilman so Lin can't touch me and I could come south to begin your training, as originally planned, when my business here is concluded."

Korra looked up at her teacher, surprised. "I," she stopped short. "Thank you, Tenzin."

Turning around with a flare of his robes, the monk walked for gate on the eastern end of the grounds. "For what?" he asked, continuing to walk away. "See you back at the temple." He took several more steps before stopping and turning to glance at the young Avatar over his shoulder. "I'll bring Naga south with me."

Watching as Tenzin disappeared out the gate and down the stone steps beyond, Korra waited. "Goodbye," she whispered, turning and heading west towards the bay.

Letting her mind wander as she walked, Korra kept her eyes fixed on the ground ahead of her and clenched her jaw to fight back tears. "Some Avatar I turned out to be," she growled, eyes moistening. The faces of the triads she'd put in the hospital flashed in Korra's memory while images of the wrecked Satomobile and storefront rioted in her mind, keeping fresh in her wondering just how many people she'd hurt and how badly in the midst of her flight from the police who, it occurred to her, had every right to arrest her. "Spirits," her voice caught and she looked up at the darkening sky. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I just wanted to," she trailed off.

Standing in silence a moment longer, Korra shook with effort to remain composed. Looking around at the street signs and realizing she'd lost her way, the young Avatar raised her hands to her sides and let them fall, clapping her hands on her hips. "Great," she muttered. "Now I'm lost too…" Picking a direction and wandering in frustration, Korra tried her best to navigate the twisting and tangled streets of Republic City's western borough, coming eventually to an intersection that sparked her memory. She glanced around and spotted the culvert where earlier that day she and Naga had escaped the sewers and, looking down the cramped and claustrophobic street to her left, spotted the same little bar where she'd fought the two triads.

Moving slowly in that direction, unsure of what she hoped to accomplish, the young Avatar stopped in front of the bar and looked inside. A withered old man hunched at less than five feet tall stood at the bar, his balding head in his hands. Aside from the man Korra supposed to be the owner, only one other figure occupied the establishment. Pushing a broom rhythmically across the floor to clear it of dust and debris, the drunkard from earlier that day paused in his sweeping when he looked up and saw the Avatar standing in the door. The two paused and watched each other in silence a moment. Korra cringed to see the angry red lacerations across the drunkard's forehead, though the wounds looked to have been cleaned and cauterized, though his thick beard still sat caked to his face with dried blood.

Raising a hand to greet him, Korra cleared her throat. "So I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd drop by," she said, her voice filled with unease mixed with feigned confidence. "Do you need any help cleaning up?"

Taking a deep breath and sighing, refraining from a smile even though his sharp eyes softened, the drunk reached over and poked the short man by the bar. Immediately the miniature proprietor spotted the Avatar, pointed at her, and began shouting angrily in a language alien to Korra. The drunkard placed himself between the Avatar and the bar's owner, speaking in the same language and getting the short man calmed down after a moment or two. After another brief exchange with the drunk, the owner huffed at Korra and stomped out of the room.

Korra clenched her jaw. "He's really angry at me isn't he?" she asked.

The drunk shrugged. "He'll live," he answered. "I'd be pissed too if you'd wrecked my bar and pretty much guaranteed repercussions with the triads."

A spark of anger igniting in her chest, Korra pressed her hands on her hips. "Fine," she spat. "I wanted to make amends but if you're all just going to spit on me." She turned to leave.

Leaning on the broom and reaching out for her, the drunk called after the Avatar. "I'm sorry," he said, continuing when she stopped and turned back to him. "You're right. That was rude of me." He took a few steps closer to her, smiled, and offered her the broom. "If you wanted to sweep, that would free me up to patch the walls."

Reaching out, Korra hesitantly took the broom. "Thanks. "I'm Korra by the way." She extended her hand. "You're name's Wildfire, isn't it?"

The tall figure likewise extended his and gave hers a quick shake. "Good to meet you," he answered. "My name's Azulon, actually. 'Wildfire's' a," he paused a moment. "Well it's kind of a slur: Fire Nation shorthand," he grinned, turning and walking behind the bar.

Korra twitched. "I hadn't heard of that, sorry," she said. "Well, Lord Azulon," she bowed jokingly low. "I'll get right on that sweeping."

Pulling a small barrel of plaster from behind the bar and heaving it over to the most damaged section of wall, Azulon produced a putty knife and set to patching the wall while Korra worked to shuffle the debris across the room towards the door. Once she'd cleared the floor and flung all the dust and splinters into the gutter, Korra took up a putty knife and worked alongside the drunkard to fill some of the trenches she'd carved in the wall earlier that day. An hour passed as the pair worked in near silence, pulling supplies as necessary from behind the bar or fetching them from the kitchen to get the bar back into some semblance of order.

Korra stepped back from the wall once the bucket sat empty plaster and surveyed their work. "Not terrible," she said, unable to spot the burned trenches and thinking that the swathes of bright white plaster added some nice texture to the drab surface. "Good thing all the owner had all this stuff laying around."

Standing and dusting himself down, Azulon carried the empty barrel back behind the counter without answering her directly. "So what brought you back?" he asked, reemerging from the kitchen and sitting at the bar. "I saw the metalbenders carting you off and honestly didn't think you'd be free so soon." He leaned against the bar and laughed once. "I guess being the Avatar has its advantages."

Freezing for a second, Korra's breath caught. She turned around and walked up to the bar, pulling a stool beneath herself and sitting next to Azulon. "Actually," she said slowly, any levity fleeing her face. "I'm supposed go on trial tomorrow. Chief Bei Fong and the arbiter seem pretty set on sending me to the Boiling Rock for twenty years unless I can pay the million or so yuans in damage I caused."

"Wow," Azulon gasped. "Well damn. And you're going to actually stick around and go to trial?"

Korra leaned forward on the stool and clenched her fists between her knees. "I was actually on my way to the harbor to stow my way out…"

The drunk watched the Avatar watch the floor. "Then why'd you stop here?"

Remaining silent a minute, Korra shrugged. "Because now I don't think I'm going to," she answered. "I'm the Avatar. I can't just run away from a problem I caused."

"So…" Azulon drew the word out, "what, you'll just quietly let them cart you away to jail?"

Korra sighed. "What else can I do?" she asked. "I can't just run away, the arbiter won't drop the charges, and I'm broke." Chief Bei Fong's words echoed and rang around in her head. "The Avatar needs to be held to the same standard as everyone else." She held her hands out to her sides. "I don't really have a choice."

The corners of his mouth turning sharply downward and back up again, Azulon stood up and faced Korra. "That sounds more like what an Avatar would say," he said. "I can respect your respect for the law, but at the same time, it _is_ the Avatar's job to maintain balance in the world and that can be hard to do from a jail cell. How about this then," he paused as Korra looked at him. "If you'll promise me you'll work the rest of your life towards being a beacon of equality, balance, and justice, then I'll pay your legal fines for you."

Taking a second to process the offer, Korra burst out laughing. "That's really not funny," she said, wiping her eye, "but I needed the laugh."

Azulon stared at her, stone faced. "Do we have a deal?" he pressed.

Looking at him with an incredulous smirk, Korra shrugged her shoulders. "Sure, why not?" she said.

"Now," Azulon went on, "this isn't a gift. It's a loan with no interest, the collateral being that at any time I can call it in if I feel you're not living up to being the Avatar. I'll draw up the arrangements and have them ready at the courthouse tomorrow morning before they open so you can sign the papers and we can get those damages and fines taken care of."

Korra twitched again, her expression melting from amused disbelief to actual disbelief. "Wait, what? You're serious?" There echoed in her tone shadows of both desperation and hope. "You actually have money just lying around like that?"

"Not just lying around," Azulon specified, clearing his throat. "Most of it's tied up in Future Industries and Cabbage Corporation Stock, and certificates at Bank of the Republic. I'll go down to the bank in the morning and take out a loan to cover your expenses, using my deposits and stocks as collateral and we'll have you paid up in no time."

Stunned, Korra sat in silence.

Azulon held her gaze. "Don't judge a tiger hawk by its plumage," he said, guessing her thought process. "I may be a worthless drunk, but I'm one of the richest worthless drunks in Republic City."

Both Korra and Azulon turned from where they sat as the door to the bar opened. "And that," said a hoarse but deep voice as no fewer than a dozen people dressed in black, red, and gold filed into the room and spread out, "is exactly why you're going to pay Zolt the yuans you owe him." From the crowd of triads an exceptionally tall figure, so lean and lanky he looked almost fragile, stepped forward. "You're going to pay Wildfire," he continued, "or we're going to take those yuans out of your fucking hide."

Another triad burst out of the crowd, this one a burly figure with an ugly bruise winding across his face. "That's her!" shouted the thug, stabbing a finger at Korra. "That's the bitch that trashed Lee!"

The lanky triad looked between Korra and Azulon as both rose slowly from their seats. "Well isn't this fortuitous," he said. "The Avatar and the Bastard Prince, one's worth millions to Zolt alive, the other worth millions to him dead." His gaze settled on Korra. "Your predecessor caused our boss a lot of trouble. I'll just bet he'd love it if we brought you to him so he could return the favor."

Stepping forward and raising his hands pleadingly, Azulon positioned himself between the triads and the Avatar, even as numerous benders within the triad ranks summoned jets of flame, whirling vortexes of stone, or whips of water to their hands. "We all need to take a step back from this," he said calmly but firmly, not looking back as Korra's hands caught fire and she lowered herself, ready to attack. "I don't think anybody here really wants to start a fight."

The lean triad stepped up and brought his face within inches of Azulon's. "No, I really think we do," he said. "And it's going to take a lot of money to make sure we ignore the overwhelming urge to burn you alive and cart the Avatar's corpse to our boss."

Voice almost a whisper, Azulon's silvery green eyes grew sharp and cold. "Think about what you're doing," he said. "The Avatar and I _will_ defend ourselves and I will personally go straight for your throat. When the dust settles maybe you win, maybe you lose, but I guarantee you won't survive the encounter." He paused as the thin triad before him leaned back, watching as the bender swallowed the lump in his throat. "Walk away from this."

Glancing between the Avatar and Azulon, the triad remained perfectly still, though Korra couldn't miss the bead of sweat on his forehead. He glanced over his shoulder. "Alright boys, this guy makes a pretty good case," he took several steps back, placing a few of the other thugs between himself and their opponents. "Not convincing enough! Kill them-" he shouted but stopped short as both Korra and Azulon exploded forward.

Gasps filled the room as arcs of white hot lightning burst to life around Azulon's hands and arms. The drunkard planted his foot against the lean triad's chest before the man could react and stepped forward, pushing the thug to the ground and pinning him with his heel. Azulon aimed one crackling hand at the triad beneath his foot and levelled the other at the next nearest thug. "Last warning!" he called out as Korra leapt beside him, ready to strike. "Back off or at least two of you are ash!"

Watching as the triads froze in the face of the lightningbender, Korra held her breath as steady as the flames in her hands. For what felt like hours the triads refrained from attacking while remaining on the edge of a charge, though the first response sounded from the thug pinned to the ground by Azulon's boot. "Boys!" he called out, staring up at the thundering bolt of death held mere feet from his face, "we're leaving. Everybody stand down and calmly back away please."

Stepping back, Azulon took his foot off the triad's chest and positioned himself nearer Korra, hands still glowing and snapping, levelled on the thugs. "Thank you," he said.

Slowly, refusing to turn their backs, the triads filed out of the bar. The man on the ground cautiously pushed himself up to his feet and, hands raised without a readied attack. "This isn't over," he warned, backing out of the bar.

Azulon lowered his hands and let the lightning fade without damaging anything. "Yeah, it's pretty much over," he answered.

When the last of the thugs disappeared from the room, Korra turned to the lightningbender, eyes wide. "You can bend?" she asked in disbelief.

Nodding, breathing steady, Azulon faced her. "You're surprised?" he asked.

Taking a moment to respond, Korra nodded. "A little," she said at length. "For one thing I- I've never seen anyone use that kind of control while lightningbending or hold it steady for so long. If you can do that why were you letting those guys push you around before? You could have taken them apart."

Azulon shrugged. "Maybe," he said. "Yeah, probably, but people might have gotten hurt."

Korra crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm thinking the triads deserve to get messed up…"

"They do," Azulon nodded. He took a deep breath and patted his hands down his pants. "That's not my call though. Now," the lightningbender audibly relaxed, "Why don't you get back to wherever it is you're staying and I'll meet you at the courthouse tomorrow. Fair enough?"

A wide grin broke across the Avatar's face. "Sure, yeah," she said. "This is… I can't believe it. Thank you! Thank you so much!"

Azulon turned and motioned for the kitchen. "Remember our deal though. This isn't a gift. Now come on," he headed for the back. "I'll walk you where you need to go but we should get out of here."

"Wait," Korra called after him. "What about Pau Gon?"

"He lives in the apartment upstairs," the lightningbender answered. "He's smart enough to lock up after us and get to where it's safe."

Quickly looking both ways to ensure the path was clear, the Avatar and the drunk snuck out the back of the bar, disappearing down the inky alley beyond. Being careful to dodge what few streetlights shone in dark, they navigated back roads and narrow trafficways without incident, arriving shortly on the road bordering the bay. Without a word they stole across the street to the beach, where Korra stared across the water a moment, looking at Air Temple Island before turning back to Azulon.

The young Avatar stood silent for a moment before clearing her throat and looking Azulon in the eye. "Thank you again," she said. "I don't know what else to say. I mean I barely know your name and you're bailing me out of, well, the worst situation I've ever been in. Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Azulon said. "Consider it an investment, an investment in Republic City and the rest of the world." He turned to leave, but looked over his shoulder. "Good night, Avatar Korra. Stay out of trouble."

Watching as he crossed the street and disappeared into the inky blackness of the night, Korra stood silent, a warm feeling settling in her chest, a smile on her lips. "I won't let you down," she said, turning to the water, taking a running start, and diving into the waves. Kicking through the surf, hands stretched out before her as she cut through the water, Korra closed the distance between herself and Air Temple Island in a matter of minutes. Taking a deep breath as she broke through the surface of the water and shot into the air, Korra came down on the island beach. Lit only by the moon and the faint lights issuing from the temple's windows, the beach rumbled with the noise of the surf as Korra flicked her hands and bent the water out of her clothes, drying herself in an instant. Walking up the beach as the sand crunched beneath her feet, Korra hopped over the low fence cordoning off the paved road leading to the island's docks and walked under the massive stone arch in the temple's high marble wall.

Looking around the empty grounds and seeing no one about, Korra made for the temple's main entrance and, pausing to remove her shoes before entering, stepped into the main hall. The richly lacquered wooden floor, warmed by stoves in the level below, felt welcoming to Korra's feet as she paced down the passage, glancing in the open doors in the ornately plastered and gilded walls as she moved. Stopping before an office near the center of the center of the temple complex, Korra looked in at the monk in orange.

Sitting in a simple chair at a high desk Tenzin leaned forward, his elbows on the wide slab of wood before him. With one hand he pinched the bridge of his nose as if against a headache, and with the other he ran his fingers across the back of his bald head. The airbender took a deep breath and, eyes still closed, tugged at his beard before resting his hands on his knees. "Dad," he muttered. "What in the world would you do?"

Pressing her fist to her lips, Korra quietly grunted, smiling when Tenzin looked up. "Hey there," she said, tilting her head down some as she spoke.

Tenzin pushed himself up to his feet, features shot through with surprise. "Korra," he stammered.

"Mind if I come in?" asked the Avatar, grabbing her left hand with her right.

Gesturing to a comfortable chair on the opposite wall, the monk reached for the lamp on his desk and turned it up, brightening the room some and bringing out the colors in the stained wooden walls. "Please," he said. "But I thought you'd be on a ship south by now."

Pulling the chair away from the wall, being careful not to scrape the floor, Korra leaned against the back of the chair and faced Tenzin. "I thought so too," she said. "I realized though that Bei Fong was right. Being the Avatar doesn't free me up from being held to the same standards as everyone else." She paused. "So I decided to stay, face the music, and serve any time the court decided was necessary."

Tenzin's jaw dropped. "Korra, that's," he straightened up some and looked her in the eye. "That's very mature of you. I'll be honest. I didn't expect you to come back and, while it's a good surprise, we will have to appeal your case in the courts and try to get your sentence reduced."

"Actually," Korra said. "I think I've got a solution for that."

His eyebrow rising up his forehead, Tenzin sat back at his desk. "Oh?" he toned. "Please, go on."

Recounting in brief her wandering into the bar and meeting the drunken lightningbender, Korra explained to Tenzin the events leading up to her deal with Azulon. As the Avatar gave her take on the happening, the airbender folded his hands together before his lips and grew focused on her, his forehead wrinkling as he listened to every word. When Korra finished, Tenzin sat there without a word. The young Avatar watched her teacher a moment as he tapped his finger on his cheek and stared straight ahead.

The avatar held her hands to her sides, grinning wide. "So?" she prompted, "what do you think? Pretty awesome huh?"

Tenzin lowered his hands to the desk and looked up at her, his expression pale and serious. "Korra, I want you to listen very carefully. This man, Azulon, I've had dealings with him in the past. He is…" the airbender trailed off as if weighing his next words carefully. "He is a very dangerous individual."

"Yeah, I know," Korra interrupted. "That's pretty obvious. I've never seen anyone lightningbend with that kind of control before. He made the masters brought to the South Pole look like children in comparison."

The monk nodded. "Yes," he said slowly. "The man lives up to his namesake. He's a prodigy. He is also however not to be trusted."

Korra recoiled in surprise. "What? Why not?" she asked. "He just saved me from prison _and_ the triads. That seems pretty trustworthy to me."

Swallowing the lump in his throat and turning to look out the window on the eastern wall to the walled in garden beyond, Tenzin folded his hands over each other. "I just need you to trust me on this," he turned back to the young Avatar. "We'll accept his help tomorrow but following that we needn't have anything to do with him."

Korra scoffed and followed Tenzin's gaze to the window and the garden beyond. "Let me stop you there at the vague and dodgy 'he's dangerous' crap," she said. "Why," she emphasized the word almost to the point of parody, "is he dangerous and not to be trusted?"

"To be completely honest," Tenzin answered. "I'm not at liberty to tell you. It involves a lot of politics with the Fire Nation and a promise I made to Lord Zuko himself. I'm asking that you trust me."

Korra stared at the monk for a moment, her eyes narrow and her arms crossed. "Whatever," she groaned. "I'm going to bed. See you in the morning." The young Avatar leaned down, picked up her shoes, and walked from the room. A moment later she stuck her head back in the office. "Where is my room exactly?"

"Down the hall, up the stairs, first door on the left," Tenzin sighed in utter exasperation.

"Thanks," Korra grumbled as she walked from the room.

The monk reached over and turned down the light on his desk. "Good night, Avatar Korra," he muttered.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three – "Just" the Avatar

Standing outside the courthouse in the dim moments before dawn, Avatar Korra and Tenzin waited on the judicial nerve center of Republic City to open. The monk stood still and faced east, his eyes closed as his breaths came deep and rhythmic. He folded his arms behind his back and waited for the dawn as the sounds of Republic City slowly stirring to life after a long night began to fade in from the distance. The monk seemed to pay little mind to the heavy tromping of Korra's padded boots on the marble courtyard as the Avatar paced from one end of the elevated platform on which the complex sat to the other.

Stopping before the man in orange, Korra crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the floor. "What time is this place supposed to open again?"

Opening one eye to look over at his pupil, Tenzin sighed. "Sunrise," he said. "You need to be patient," the monk went on, seeing how the young Avatar resumed her pacing, noting the agitation permeating her every move. "The court will open, Azulon will come through with the money, and we will put this whole matter behind us."

Korra stopped her circling. "You seem awfully confident," she said. "Last night all you'd tell me is that he's dangerous and evil. How do you know someone 'like that' will just come through with more than a million yuans?"

Forehead wrinkling, Tenzin stared east. "I never said he was evil," Tenzin corrected her as the edge of the sun broke over the horizon. "He is a man without morals, but not without honor. If he says he has and will bring the money then he does and he will. After we finish this we can begin your training properly."

Following Tenzin's gaze to the east, Korra visibly settled down some. "Last night I had this thought," she said. "Maybe when you're not teaching me airbending I should have Azulon teach me what he knows about firebending."

Tenzin twitched and turned to Korra. "Absolutely not," he declared, his whole visage flashing with anger. "Korra how many times will I have to ask you not to interact with that man?"

Snapping in return, Korra turned on the monk. "Geez Tenzin, what's your problem with this guy anyway?" she barked at him. "All last night and all through breakfast this morning all you talked about was how he's dangerous and how he can't be trusted. Why shouldn't I trust him and let him help? He obviously wants to."

Tenzin paused then for a moment, his demeanor cooling and growing somber. "Korra I want to tell you, believe me I do. I want to tell you everything I know about the man but I can't. I promised Lord Zuko I would never-"

"So you don't trust me," Korra interjected. "I see."

Tenzin again grew flustered. "Korra that's not what I meant."

"No," Korra went on. "That's exactly what you mean. You just won't say you don't trust me. So either give me a reason or leave it alone."

Brow furrowed, Tenzin sighed and dropped his shoulders. "Fine," he said after several minutes. At that point the doors to the courthouse opened. A number of individuals who had arrived in silence to await the start of the day filed into the building and the noises of business as usual issued from the building. "Fine Korra, you win. Do what you want, but I can't break my promise to the Fire Lord, to my father's closest friend."

Korra clenched her fists. "Damn it Tenzin," she growled. "Since when does being the Avatar count for nothing?"

The monk closed his eyes and clasped his hands firmly behind his back. "An Avatar worth her title wouldn't-" he began to shout but instantly cut himself off. Tenzin froze a moment and looked over at Korra.

Looking up at the monk, Korra stood as though braced against some impending blow. Any defiance in her features gone, she cleared her throat. "An Avatar worth her title," she probed, "what, Tenzin? An Avatar worth her title wouldn't what?" She paused a moment when Tenzin didn't respond. "Wouldn't disgrace being the Avatar?"

Tenzin's glare softened. "I didn't say that," he said.

Both the Avatar and the airbender stood in silence then as more than an hour ticked gradually by and the sun crept higher. Neither looked at the other or even in the other's general direction as people began coming and going from the courthouse. More than once Tenzin turned as though to say something, but each time he fell silent before uttering a word, turning back and looking uneasily at the ground before his feet. Likewise, Korra often threw a sidelong glance at her soon-to-be teacher but remained silent.

Neither heard the stranger approaching from behind until he stopped and cleared his throat. "Excuse me," said the tall individual. "Avatar Korra?"

Tenzin and Korra turned to their guest, though the latter spoke first. "Can I help you?" asked the young Avatar, eyeing the dapper individual before her, noting first lustrously dyed cambric clothes he wore and next the briefcase in his hand, all colored red with gold accents in the tradition of the old Fire Nation.

The visitor inclined his head and righted himself, reaching up to brush a rusty lock of hair out of his face. "If you're ready to get started," he nodded towards the courthouse, "we could get these fines settled and the damages taken care of at the same time." He turned to the monk and bowed again. "Master Tenzin," he said. "You're looking well."

Arms folded before his chest, Tenzin remained standing straight. "Azulon," he responded. "You're looking quite healthy yourself."

Korra stumbled in surprise as she looked Azulon up and down, recognizing now his silvery green eyes but nothing else about him. "You cleaned up," she managed. "You don't smell like booze," she continued, immediately biting her tongue.

The firebender shrugged and rubbed a hand across his clean-shaven jaw. "My friend's a barber," he answered before motioning towards the courthouse. "We should probably get this out of the way."

As Tenzin silently lead the way into the courthouse, Korra turned to Azulon and again looked him over. "You look younger without the beard," she said, "or the long hair. How old are you exactly?"

"Twenty-two last week," Azulon answered.

"Happy birthday," responded the young Avatar as the trio strode into the massive reception chamber of the courthouse. Flanked by towering statues of Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko in their prime, Korra glanced between Tenzin as he spoke with a clerk behind a huge desk and thick metal bars, and Azulon. "You alright?" she asked, noting the winces skirting across the firebender's face and the sweat beading on his brow. "You're shaking," she looked at his free hand as his fingers trembled.

Azulon smiled, though Korra thought the expression suspect. "I'm fine," he answered, "just a little nauseous, headache… nothing bad."

Turning away from the clerk, Tenzin faced his pupil and the firebender. "If the withdrawal gets to be too much," he said to Azulon, something akin to genuine concern intermingled with irritation evident in his voice, "I know several doctors who would be happy to help."

Concern washed over Korra's face. "Are you hurt?" she interrupted, ignoring the airbender's obvious and growing frustration as she went on. "I'm a great healer if you need any help."

Raising a hand, Azulon thanked Tenzin while declining his offer and addressed Korra. "I appreciate it," he said. "But I'm fine, really."

Watching him a second longer, Korra stepped back. "If you're sure," she trailed off as the clerk got up from behind her desk and moved to escort the three benders deeper into the courthouse. Following the elderly assistant Korra, Azulon, and Tenzin walked silently down a hall adorned with all manner of portraits and decorated with darkly stained trim and gilded fixtures. They turned down a brightly lit corridor and entered an office richly adorned with silks, pillowed couches, and exotic potted plants. The floor to ceiling windows on the eastern wall let in the full extent of the sunrise, the flecks of gold and green set in the glass filtering colorful dots of light into the room.

On the opposite end of the office, a young woman who sat beside another door and behind a marble-topped desk looked up at the visitors. Immediately she stood and inclined her head, greeting the councilman and following up by asking in a soft voice how she could be of assistance. The accompanying clerk crossed the room and spoke briefly with the secretary in a tone too low for Korra to make out. Immediately the youthful secretary bowed again and vanished through the door opposite the visitors. Several minutes later she returned, followed by a woman who looked easily three times her age. The new entrant took a moment to look over her visitors and run her hands down her vibrantly green robes before adjusting the weighty gold chain around her neck.

Crossing the room with a wide smile on her face and extending a hand to Tenzin, the woman in green gave the airbender's hand a polite shake. "Councilman," she said, ostensibly paying absolutely no mind to the younger benders in her presence. "It's always an honor to see you sir. What can a humble arbiter do for you today?"

Tenzin withdrew his hand and motioned to Azulon and Korra. "I can't officially be a part of any of this. Forget I'm even here."

As Tenzin stepped aside, Azulon walked forward and bowed to the arbiter. "Ma'am," he said. "My name's-"

The arbiter cut him off, jerking her hand sharply upwards. "I'm aware," she said abruptly, any levity vanishing from her tone. Levelling her gaze at him through the thick and gold-rimmed spectacles pressing down on her nose, her eyes settled on the briefcase in his hand. "When Joo Dee announced the Avatar had come to pay her fines I couldn't believe it. 'She must have robbed a bank' I said to myself." Pausing, the Arbiter looked Azulon up and down. "I didn't expect even she would stoop to accepting help from the likes of you."

Composure unbroken, Azulon cleared his throat. "If you're willing to work with the likes of me I'd be happy to take care of the damages," he said, speaking up before Korra could respond, though the young Avatar's face hardened. "I'll pay the debt in full," a brief pause overtook the room before he added, "with cash, if that helps."

Jaw going slack for only a second, the Arbiter resumed her aloof demeanor. "In full?" she pressed. "One point two million yuans, in cash?"

Azulon proffered the briefcase. "One point three, if you'll strike this whole incident from the record."

The Arbiter looked to her assistant, who walked forward and took the briefcase. Opening it for her employer to see, the young woman reached inside and pulled out one of more than a dozen bundles of thousand-yuan notes. The sleeve around the bills bore the seal of the Bank of the Republic, certifying beyond doubt that exactly one hundred notes comprised the bundle.

Looking inside the briefcase and noting that each bundle bore the seal, the arbiter nodded to her assistant. "Take that to the safe," she instructed before looking between Azulon and Korra. "Strike what from the record?" she asked. "To the best of my knowledge the Avatar arrived in Republic City yesterday without incident. All damages caused thereafter occurred in the polices' pursuit of a member of the local Triad gang who was never apprehended. The damages were paid in full by an anonymous donation thought to be a peace offering from 'Lightning Bolt' Zolt to keep the police from pursuing the case."

Stunned, Korra's shoulders slumped. "You can do that?" she asked. "There were" she stammered, "I don't even know how many police officers were chasing me. Any one of them could say differently."

Chuckling, the arbiter folded her hands behind her back. "Then they would be speaking slander," she said.

Still dumbstruck, the young Avatar searched for words. "How?" Korra pressed. "You can just make it all go away?"

The arbiter smirked even as Tenzin shook his head. "Young lady," she said. "I am an arbiter of Republic City. If I declare the sky purple, then the sky is purple. Now," continued the old woman as she tossed the stack of notes in her hand to her assistant, "Joo Dee will make all the arrangements with the police to have the records destroyed. You're free to go Avatar Korra. Please behave yourself from this point forward." Another smirk flitting across her wrinkled lips, the woman in green and gold looked to Azulon. "I can only imagine the favors you bought," she leered at him and then back at Korra. "That skin, those muscles… you're a lucky boy."

Bowing low, Azulon faced the arbiter even as Korra flinched and a disgusted look settled on Tenzin's face. "Thank you for your time," he said, standing up and turning to Korra. "We're done here," said the firebender. "Let's go."

Shock still painted on her face, Korra cleared her throat. "Shouldn't we get a note or something? A guarantee? What about our deal?"

The firebender's eyes narrowed and a shadow crossed his features. "I'm your guarantee," he said, a steely edge in his voice. "As for our deal, hold up and your end and we'll call it a gift. Let's go."

As the arbiter and Joo Dee took the briefcase and carried it into the back office, Tenzin, Korra, and Azulon left the chamber and closed the thick wooden door behind them. Azulon leaned against the wall and sighed as if some great weight fell from his shoulders while Tenzin groaned with no small measure of discomfort. The trio stood there a moment, each looking between the other two as if no one wished to be the first to speak.

Eventually though, Korra broke the silence. "What the hell was that?" she exclaimed, focusing more on Tenzin than the firebender. "We just bribed one of the highest officials in the city in broad daylight? You were there, right there and" she stuttered, mind reeling. "How could you just let someone like that hold any power? How could you let us get away with that? How could you be a part of it?"

A long sigh then escaped the airbender. "I have to pick my battles with care; if I act too zealously or openly go after the wrong people there might be reprisals against my family," he answered some seconds later, staring at the ground at his feet. "Korra, now do you see why I couldn't stay at the South Pole to complete your training? Republic City is to be the heart of the new world, and it's rotten."

The young Avatar whirled on Azulon. "And what about you?" she asked before Tenzin could finish his thought. "And you just bribed a senior official!" Korra hissed, just now glancing about for any nearby listeners. "No kind of guarantee or anything. You just turned the money right on over to her…"

Closing his eyes as he rubbed his temples, the firebender grumbled. "The only guarantee we need is that she knows not to cross me," he said. "Don't make a badgermole hill out of nothing."

"Nothing?" Korra exclaimed. "How was that creepy witch making passes at me like that nothing?" She changed gears as Azulon shook his head. "She's going to destroy evidence. She'll interfere with police business. Isn't that basically what got me arrested in the first place? Why does she just get to walk free?"

Azulon glanced at Tenzin who remained silent. "Because that's how we play the game," said the firebender, his tone emotionless and sterile. "It isn't pretty or honorable, but if you want to stay out of a very, very hot cell."

Stepping forward, Tenzin placed himself not quite between the two benders, but close enough to either that one could not look at the other without seeing him. "Now that this is taken care of," said the airbender to the Avatar, "we should get going. We can start your training when we get back to Air Temple Island."

Korra nodded but stepped to the side to better view the firebender. "Sure thing, first though," she looked to Azulon, "I wanted to ask, when I'm not busy training with Tenzin would you teach me what you know about firebending?" she smirked and carried on, ignoring the red glare washing over Tenzin's face. "The so-called masters they brought to the South Pole could barely teach me anything I hadn't forgotten years ago."

Eyes flashing as his temper flared, Tenzin stepped forward. "Korra," he barked. "Show some respect. Those masters were in the top of their fields."

Whirling on the airbender, Korra clenched her fists. "And I demolished them," she scoffed. "I trashed them even though it was three on one. I didn't break a sweat."

Azulon cleared his throat. "If that's the case," he interjected, "why do you need my help? Sounds like you already beat the best the world has to offer."

"That's just it!" Korra insisted, her voice almost pleading. "The White Lotus wouldn't bring me the best the world has to offer. They only brought a couple of stooges to teach me what they wanted me to learn and tow their line. I barely learned anything."

Both Tenzin and Azulon went silent a moment, glancing at each other more than once before Azulon spoke. "Avatar Korra," he said, inclining his head, "I'm honored and flattered, but hardly a qualified teacher. You'd be much better off studying under Tenzin and whoever he recommends."

Korra's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "But," she started to stammer before stopping and turning to Tenzin. "Yeah, there's a man without morals for you, no respect or honor whatsoever," scoffed the Avatar, venom dripping from her tone. She turned back to Azulon. "Why not?" she pressed.

Meeting and holding her gaze, Azulon calmly leaned forward, any remaining semblance of the happy drunk from the prior day evaporating, replaced by a visage like a steel mask. "Respectfully Avatar Korra, I'm genuinely flattered that you'd want me to teach you more advanced firebending. But fire is power, and power, if given half a chance, corrupts. No one is immune to the corruption, and it _will_ make you do horrible things.

"Korra," the firebender paused and looked at her. "The way you throw your title around, the way you just act with no thought of the people around you… You're too selfish, too hotheaded and renegade, too open to power's corrupting influence. Teaching you more firebending wouldn't do you any favors." He stood up straight and cleared his throat. "You've shown me you're more than willing to use the power behind your title and abilities for less than upstanding purposes so I won't open you up to the possibility of corruption any more than you already are. If we need anyone on the straight and narrow, it's you."

Standing, staring at him a moment, Korra gaped, visibly processing the accusations levelled against her. "Selfish!" she barked. "Well I, I don't!" the young Avatar stammered. "You're a-" Korra fumed a moment longer, struggling for words. "You're the worst!" she finally shouted. "What gives you any right to talk about corruption when you're the one who just paid a million yuan bribe to a corrupt old hag? If anyone here's corrupt it's you!"

Azulon remained silent, hands at his sides. He turned as if to walk away but Korra shouted after him. "What do you people want from me?" she yelled. "First being the Avatar doesn't matter, then it does; I need to be trained in all the elements but no one wants to really train me because I'm selfish. What do you want?!"

Turning and looking at her over his shoulder, Azulon frowned. "Honestly," he said sternly, "I want Republic City to live up to its founders' dreams, but right now I'd settle for peace between the triads and the tongs."

Tenzin and Korra waited as the firebender left, before turning to each other and jointly sighing. Neither said anything as they walked through the courthouse. The monk's demeanor cooled as they passed beneath the great statues of Fire Lord Zuko and Avatar Aang, even as Korra's movements grew fierce and agitated.

When they stood outside, Korra turned on her teacher and exploded. "Who does that son of a bitch think he is?!" she bellowed. "I was willing to go to prison to make this right, but he's the one who offered a way out and then insulted me for taking it. He tells me being the Avatar doesn't make me immune to the law and then bribes the law because I'm the Avatar. He says I need to be above corruption as he uses corruption to help me while telling me that I'm hotheaded and selfish and don't deserve his help where I really want it!" She simmered and began to pace. "I knew from the start he was just a worthless drunk… rich but worthless." Her temper seemed to cool as she looked at the ground before her and groaned.

Tenzin put a hand on her shoulder. "This might have been what he was talking about," said the monk. "I think more than criticizing you for accepting his help, he was commenting on your needing it in the first place."

Shrugging out from beneath his grasp, Korra stared out over the city from her vantage point. "Whose side are you on anyway?" she growled.

"This isn't about sides," Tenzin stated calmly as a breeze blew in from the west and carried with it the smell of salt. "Korra, have you considered that, just possibly, there was some truth in what Azulon was saying about your," he briefly searched for a word, "disposition?"

Stomping once and sending a bending-enhanced tremor through the ground, Korra clenched her fists. "Tenzin," she grumbled, "I really don't need this right now."

The monk sighed and shook his head, stepping up beside the young Avatar and looking over the city with her. Quietly he suggested they put this discussion off for a while and return to Air Temple Island to begin her training. Tenzin offered that airbending's reliance on calm and inner balance might bring her some serenity. Korra declined to respond, but followed Tenzin down the courthouse steps and into the city. As they walked and Korra thought, the young Avatar heard Azulon's words echoing in her mind over and over again.

Stopping in her tracks, Korra stared at the ground a moment as Tenzin took a few more steps before looking back at her. The young Avatar took a deep breath and exhaled. "I completely screwed that up, didn't I?" she asked, going on when Tenzin didn't respond. "Azulon ate a debt I could never repay and asked nothing in return except that I try to live up to the being the Avatar. He even offered me some good perspective on top of it… and I threw it in his face."

Still looking straight ahead, Tenzin reached up and ran his fingers through his beard. "One could look at it that way," he answered. "You presented yourself quite aggressively."

Korra spun with a sudden angry shout, fist glowing with flame as she swung at empty air. A bolt of fire shot from her knuckles, lancing through the air and dying in a flash of spectacular orange light. Huffing in one deep breath after another, the Avatar closed her eyes and visibly tried to steady herself without success. As his pupil seethed without lashing out further, Tenzin moved to put a hand on her shoulder but hesitated and thought better of provoking her any further.

A moment later, Korra regained herself enough to look about and spot the numerous faces in the surrounding windows watching her in no small measure of fear. She turned back to Tenzin, an amalgamation of anger and defeat plain on her features. "Something's wrong with me Tenzin," she said, making a point not to look about the empty street or at the faceless masses that had silently scurried away in the face of her outrage. "I'm so angry. I feel like the whole time I was at the South Pole, every minute of every day I had to tow someone else's line. The Elders of the White Lotus, Lady Katara, and the masters they brought down… spirits," her tone rose and fell, her tempo steadily but quickly increasing. "Spirits, I was always so angry with them for keeping me locked up at the ass-end of the world. I just can't shake that. I hoped I could leave it in the South but it won't let me go Tenzin." Her tone plunged from hurried to mournful as Korra's voice grew raw and less stable.

Immediately Tenzin stepped forward and put an arm around her shoulder. "It's alright Korra," he patted her shoulder and put his hand on her back. "We can go back to the island and you can relax and unwind the rest of the day." He smiled warmly at her. "We can start your training tomorrow, or whenever you're feeling up to it."

"I tried to get away from it," Korra went on, even as Tenzin motioned her forward and they again began making their way through the narrow streets towards the bay. "I took Naga and I ran north as fast as she could carry me. But it's still following me Tenzin," she said, looking up at her teacher while her expression changed from a snarl to a plea and back again. "Then I come to Republic City to try and help, hoping things will get better and I'm only making everything worse."

Walking with her and reaching the bay before he answered, Tenzin paused, walked in front of Korra, and put his hands on her shoulders. "Everything is going to be alright," he stated very clearly and firmly, but not uncaringly as she looked up at him. "Being the Avatar will be hard," he said. "It will be so hard some days, but you've got to keep going."

Korra shook with the effort to keep herself composed. "Easy for anyone else to say," she said. "You're not the Avatar."

"No," Tenzin shook his head and dropped his hands to his side. "But I think I understand how you're feeling. You see," the monk turned and looked out over the bay with Korra, "when I was younger, barely a man, my father and I went on a journey to the Fire Nation to deal with a small uprising against Fire Lord Zuko. Now the Fire Lord could have quashed the rebellion himself but he called on the Avatar as a show of solidarity, to demonstrate to all that he and the Avatar, the symbol of unity and balance embodied, stood with him…

"After we arrived on the little island where the rebels had bunkered up, things went horribly wrong," Tenzin's tone grew somber and his gaze drifted far away. "The rebels saw the arrival of the Avatar not as a gesture of peace to be accepted, but as the ultimate challenge to their sovereignty. The Sons of Sozin, as they called themselves, challenged Avatar Aang and refused to stand down. The Fire Lord had no choice but to exterminate the rebels before they could make good on their threats to attack the nearby villages."

Eyes wide, Korra looked up at the monk but remained silent as he went on.

"The Sons of Sozin who escaped used the massacre as propaganda and bolstered their numbers, more than tripling the manpower they had prior to the attack. They remained a thorn in the Fire Lord's side for decades, appealing to the rabid nationalism left over in some from the Great War," Tenzin took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "All that to say," he continued, "his failure to talk the rebels down sent my father to the edge of despair. Hundreds were dead and thousands would die because he couldn't convince them, father told himself. He told me some years later," the monk here turned and looked to Korra, "that following the massacre a number of the parties responsible for the founding of Republic City wanted to pull out from the project, that they didn't trust Aang, that his ability to lead fell into question after the incident."

Flinching, Korra looked down and away. "Tenzin," she muttered. "That's horrible… that's not even remotely comforting. Why are you telling me this?"

Folding his hands behind his back, Tenzin looked out over the sunlit bay. "Because for all the terrible occurrences," he said, "my father salvaged the situation. He came to realize that the reason the Republic City project almost collapsed was because people couldn't separate 'the Avatar' and 'Aang.' To most, the Avatar was some flawless entity that travelled around righting wrongs while doing no wrongs itself. They forgot that there was a person behind the title, someone just as human as the rest of us who felt and dreamed and failed like anyone else. It was something he had been afraid of since he was a boy, not having an identity of his own and being 'just' the Avatar. I have to imagine you're feeling something similar right now."

Korra looked away but didn't answer. She walked down the sandy slope from the road bordering the bay to the edge of the water. There she stood for some time, long enough to watch several sailing ships glide silently across the calm water from the mouth of the bay to the docks. Looking back at Tenzin, she sighed. "How am I supposed to balance a world I can't understand because I've never been a part of it?" she asked.

"That's a question I don't think I can answer for you," said the monk. "You'll have to find the method that works best for you." At this point he walked forward and put a hand reassuringly on Korra's shoulder. "I am however here to help in whatever way I can. I think," the monk grew quiet for a few seconds, "I think I might have, no, I indeed did do you a disservice by insisting you stay at the South Pole. I apologize."

Korra turned to him and smiled. "Apology accepted," she said, "as long as you teach me to be the best airbender alive."

"I think I can manage that," Tenzin said confidently.

SC

Filling the courtyard with a splitting crack and a resounding thud, the whirling wooden sheet again slammed into Korra's face and sent her reeling to the edge of the forest of spinning doors. As the young Avatar staggered from the impact, another of the doors crashed into her flank and threw her from the training device as Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo each shouted strategies for getting through. Korra lay on the ground outside the spinning gates a moment, making a point to stare at the marbled floor beneath her and to not look up at her teacher who she could only imagine looked on with both frustration and disappointment.

Tenzin took a deep breath and folded his hands behind his back. "Better, he said calmly. "That was much better than last time." The monk moved and knelt by his pupil offering her a hand up. "Another go or two and I'm sure you'll get through without a scratch."

Looking up, Korra pushed herself to her feet without taking Tenzin's hand. "Tenzin," she groaned. "We've been at this for hours and I've barely made it five feet in." She looked up at the sky as the clouds turned orange and the birds on Air Temple Island began singing their evening songs. "Maybe it was a mistake to start this today."

The monk frowned and looked between the young Avatar and the spinning gates. "You've had a rough few days and it must be interfering with your inner balance," he said. "Korra, I won't force you, but I think we should continue until you get through the gates. This exercise should center you enough to get you started on the path to proper airbending."

Muttering as she got up, Korra nodded and again faced the field of gates as they spun down. "Fine," she said, ignoring the throbbing of the angry bruises twisting across her face and arms. "Hit it!"

Jinora and both jumped forward and slashed their hands through the air, stirring up a gale of wind and blasting it through the forest of whirling gates, spinning them up to speed. As Korra looked on and readied to charge, a single bead of sweat dripped from her chin. Halfway through her first step, the young Avatar paused for a split second and looked on at the gates, thinking of a way to get through.

_You're too hotheaded and renegade,_ the words bounced around in her skull as though Azulon had just spoken them. The statement stabbed at her chest and froze her momentarily in place. "Ok," she breathed to herself, letting her shoulders relax and shaking out her hands, the young Avatar looked at the gates as though with a fresh perspective.

Stepping forward, Korra put one foot within the field of spinning doors and instantly sidestepped to dodge out of one gate's way, stepping to the side again and then once more as the whirling doors threatened to bludgeon her. Eyes fixed on the opposite end of the field of gates, the Avatar smirked and bit her lip as her pulse beat faster in her ears. "How's this for hotheaded and renegade," she cooed, dodging one gate and then another. For another several seconds she strode deeper into the field of spinning gates. "I'm going to make you eat those words," she smirked wider until a single step too far to the right brought her skull straight into contact with a gate.

The force of the blow from the spinning door dazzled the young Avatar and sent her staggering to one side where she struck another gate and then a third. Each loud thump from the wooded doors knocked her farther back towards the entrance until the field of gates ejected her from its confines with a final crack across the face.

Staggering to her knees and dropping to her elbows, Korra put her hands up to her head and pulled them away red. She ignored the shouts from Tenzin and his children, in part because the thumping in her head nearly drowned them out. Even as the monks gathered around her Korra focused all her remaining attention on gingerly dabbing her fingers into the aching laceration running from her hairline down the right side of her face to her just beside her eye. "I really did it this time," she muttered, her words slurring together some as bright lights danced in her eyes.

Tenzin and Jinora helped the young Avatar gently into a sitting position as Korra bit her lip and closed her eyes tightly shut. She tried to tune out the hurried and worried questioning of Tenzin and the children, going so far as to press her hands over her ears. "If everyone would please be quiet," she said, anger bubbling just beneath the surface of her calm words, "I'd appreciate it. Please be quiet."

Tenzin put his hand on her back. He continued speaking and Korra continued tuning him out as she took heavy breaths and braced herself against the escalating pain in her head. A sudden roar filled her mind, drowning out the world around her and she felt Tenzin's hand pull away. For many minutes she sat, knees pulled to her chest and hands pressed against her ears. The headache worsened until Korra's breathing came only as quiet hisses between grinding teeth, nausea clawing at her belly. More than once she felt the contents of her stomach roiling and trying to come up, but she kept from vomiting and continued sitting and trying to block out the world.

_You're too hotheaded and renegade,_ the firebender's words echoed over and over in her mind, bringing with them their own lancing pain.

Korra clenched her jaw tighter. "Alright," she hissed, "alright. Yes. I'm too renegade. I'm too selfish. I'm too hotheaded. I get it. Shut up. I get it."

The shooting pains in her head peaked, threatening to make the Avatar scream, but gradually thereafter began to abate. What felt like hours passed and the thumping slowly subsided until all that remained was a dull ache localized in the front of her head. The ring in her ears also fell silent and the nausea she'd fought for the duration of the episode fell away. Slowly, Korra opened her eyes and looked around, seeing not only Tenzin and the children, but also Pema and a number of the air acolytes standing about and looking worriedly in her direction from some distance away. Most of them stood on the opposite side of the courtyard. Glancing at the sky she saw the silvery moon floating silently overhead, wreathed in countless stars.

Tenzin dropped to his knees beside her and motioned for everyone else to stay back as many of the surrounding figures began to move in. "Give her some space," said the monk before turning his attention back to the young Avatar. "Korra," he said quietly. "Are you feeling any better? You had us worried there for a while."

Looking around Korra guessed that at some point during her questionable state of consciousness a battle had taken place. Great swathes of the marble courtyard lay sundered and thrown about. Streaks of black and grey ash lay here and there as though a fire had raged, and columns of ice rose out of great puddles that filled the lower spots in the yard. Every tree she looked at stood stripped of its leafs while everywhere she saw light thrown around and gathered into piles in corners and crevices. "What happened?"

Tenzin cleared his throat uneasily. "You," he started as though not sure how to continue. "You unleashed a great deal of power," said the monk, "for quite some time… hours actually."

Still observing the considerable damaged to the courtyard and even to the surrounding buildings, Korra sat stunned. "I don't remember doing any of this," she said, noting that even the thick wall of white stone ringing in the island bore considerable damage: stones torn from their places and hurled about and a conduit melted cleanly through it as if by a blowtorch.

Tenzin moved from kneeling to sitting and looked at her. "You don't remember anything?" he asked calmly. "You sat right here for hours, surrounded by walls of ice and fire. No one could get close; anytime we tried there would be an earthquake. Towards the end there was a wind, more like a hurricane that sprung up and tore the leafs from the trees, it even ripped some of the smaller ones from the ground and threw them off the island."

Her jaw dropping, Korra stood up and realized that her legs had gone numb. She started to fall but Tenzin caught her. "I don't remember a thing," she said. "I airbent?"

Tenzin smiled, his already friendly visage softening further. "Yes Korra, I think you did. Now," he put an arm around her shoulder as Pema rushed in and began examining the laceration on the side of her head, "why don't we get you to bed."

Shaking once before composing herself, Korra leaned more of her weight off the monk and onto her own two feet. "Tenzin," she said quickly, "with what I just did… I'm not sure I should be inside. If I freak out like that again it wouldn't be good for anyone around me."

"Nonsense-" The airbender began to reply, but stopped short and nodded. "What would you recommend Avatar Korra?" he asked.

Still working to regain her stability as feeling returned to her legs, Korra reached up and put a hand on her temple. "It's a nice night and there's a small utility shack down by the dock. Pema," she turned to the concerned woman beside her, "if you have a few blankets to spare I'll sleep down there tonight."

Turning for the main complex, Pema started off. "I'll bring them down momentarily," she said over her shoulder.

As the air acolytes began to disperse, taking the children with them, Tenzin looked Korra over again, first examining the wound to her head, his studious gaze eventually settling on her eyes. "Korra," he said, concern permeating his voice, "how are you feeling, really? I've never seen anything like that."

Korra shrugged. "I've got a bad headache," she said. "Other than that I actually feel pretty much ok." She scanned the courtyard another time. "Tenzin, I'm so sorry," she said. "I really had no idea I was doing all this. I thought I was just sitting and not doing anything… I don't suppose Aang ever had any trouble like this?"

Shaking his head, Tenzin sighed. "Not quite on this scale," he said, stopping as his eyes went wide a moment. "Although, during my father's battle with Fire Lord Ozai he did suffer an injury to his spine that unblocked his ability to enter the Avatar State. The wound never fully healed, even under my mother's care but I wonder…" he reached up and scratched his fingers through his beard. "I wonder if perhaps that blow to your head didn't have a similar effect."

Korra grinned. "I don't think I want to test that," she said. "Not tonight at least."

Both the Avatar and the Airbender stopped as Pema and Jinora returned, carrying blankets and pillows. They offered them to Korra along with a tray supporting a covered bowl of soup. Korra thanked her hosts, relieving them of their cargo and bowing to Tenzin. She offered to resume training with him the following morning.

Making her way down to the docks and finding the little shack, Korra set her bedding on the wooden floor and pulled open the door. The inside of the maintenance shack sat largely barren, save a few long neglected tools shoved into the corner beside the window overlooking the bay. As the waves beneath filled the shack with the quiet sounds of flowing water, Korra made herself a crude torch from a stray plank and a bundle of cloth before piling the blankets in an empty corner. After getting comfortable and finishing the soup Pema provided, the young Avatar extinguished the torch with a snap of her fingers and settled into the pile of blankets.

Closing her eyes and wrapping up in the warm cloths, Korra took several deep breaths and began to relax, the ache in the front of her mind still present, but continuing to fade away.


End file.
